Golden Fleece
n , c. 340–330 BC}} In , the Golden Fleece ( khrusómallon dérās) is the of the en-woolled, winged , Chrysomallos, which was held in . The fleece is a symbol of authority and kingship. It figures in the tale of the hero and his crew of , who set out on a quest for the fleece by order of King , in order to place Jason rightfully on the throne of in . Through the help of , they acquire the Golden Fleece. The story is of great antiquity and was current in the time of (eighth century BC). It survives in various forms, among which the details vary. Plot the , a founder of in Thessaly but also king of the city of in (a region of southeastern ), took the goddess as his first wife. They had two children, the boy (whose name means "curly" as in the texture of the rams fleece) and the girl . Later Athamas became enamored of and married , the daughter of . When Nephele left in anger, drought came upon the land. Ino was jealous of her stepchildren and plotted their deaths;in some versions, she persuaded Athamas that sacrificing Phrixus was the only way to end the drought. Nephele, or her spirit, appeared to the children with a winged ram whose fleece was of . was the version heard by in the second century of the Christian era (Pausanias, ix.34.5).}} The ram had been sired by in his primitive ram-form upon , a and the granddaughter of , the sun-god. According to , Poseidon carried Theophane to an island where he made her into a ewe, so that he could have his way with her among the flocks. There Theophane's other suitors could not distinguish the ram-god and his consort. Nepheles' children escaped on the yellow ram over the sea, but Helle fell off and drowned in the strait now named after her, the . The ram spoke to Phrixus, encouraging him, , depicted as though really listening to the ram, and the ram seemed to be speaking. As you looked on this pair, you would be struck dumb with amazement and deceived, for you would expect to hear some wise utterance from them, with this hope you would gaze long upon them.".}} and took the boy safely to (modern-day ), on the easternmost shore of the . There Phrixus sacrificed the winged ram to Poseidon, essentially returning him to the god. The ram became the . Phrixus settled in the house of , son of Helios the sun god. He hung the Golden Fleece preserved from the sacrifice of the ram on an in a grove sacred to , the god of war and one of the . The golden fleece was defended by bulls with hoofs of brass and breath of fire. It was also guarded by a never sleeping dragon with teeth which could become soldiers when planted in the ground. The dragon was at the foot of the tree on which the fleece was placed. Evolution of plot employed the quest for the Golden Fleece in his Fourth Pythian Ode (written in 462 BC), though the fleece is not in the foreground. When Aeetes challenges Jason to yoke the fire-breathing bulls, the fleece is the prize: "Let the King do this, the captain of the ship! Let him do this, I say, and have for his own the immortal coverlet, the fleece, glowing with matted skeins of gold". In later versions of the story, the ram is said to have been the offspring of the sea god and (less often, or ). The classic telling is the of , composed in the mid-third century BC , recasting early sources that have not survived. Another, much less-known Argonautica, using the same body of myth, was composed in Latin by during the time of . Where the written sources fail, through accidents of history, sometimes the continuity of a mythic tradition can be found among the vase-painters. The story of the Golden Fleece appeared to have little resonance for Athenians of the Classic age, for only two representations of it on Attic-painted wares of the fifth century have been identified: a at the and a in the Vatican collections. 's krater in: }} In the kylix painted by Douris, ca 480-470, Jason is being disgorged from the mouth of the dragon, a detail that does not fit easily into the literary sources; behind the dragon, the fleece hangs from an apple tree. Jason's helper in the Athenian vase-paintings is not — who had a history in Athens as the opponent of — but . Interpretations The very early origin of the myth in preliterate times means that during the more than a millennium when it was to some degree part of the fabric of culture, its perceived significance likely passed through numerous developments. Several attempts to interpret the Golden Fleece "realistically" as reflecting some physical cultural object or alleged historical practice have been made. For example, in the 20th century, some scholars suggested that the story of the Golden Fleece signified the bringing of to Greece from the east; in other readings, scholars theorized it referred to golden grain, or to the sun. A more widespread interpretation relates the myth of the fleece to a method of washing gold from streams, which was well attested (but only from c. 5th century BC) in the region of to the east of the Black Sea. Sheep fleeces, sometimes stretched over a wooden frame, would be submerged in the stream, and flecks borne down from upstream deposits would collect in them. The fleeces would be hung in trees to dry before the gold was shaken or combed out. Alternatively, the fleeces would be used on washing tables in of gold or on washing tables at deep s. Judging by the very early gold objects from a range of cultures, washing for gold is a very old human activity. describes the way in which gold could be washed: "It is said that in their country gold is carried down by the mountain torrents, and that the barbarians obtain it by means of perforated troughs and fleecy skins, and that this is the origin of the myth of the golden fleece—unless they call them , by the same name as the , from the gold mines in both countries." Another interpretation is based on the references in some versions to purple or purple-dyed cloth. The purple dye extracted from the snail and related species was highly prized in ancient times. Clothing made of cloth dyed with was a mark of great wealth and high station (hence the phrase "royal purple"). The association of gold with purple is natural and occurs frequently in literature. Main theories attempts to put the serpent guarding the golden fleece to sleep. The snake is coiled around a column at the base of which is a ram and on top of which is a bird. The following are the chief among the various interpretations of the fleece, with notes on sources and major critical discussions: # It represents royal power. # It represents the flayed skin of ('Ram'), companion of . # It represents a book on alchemy. # It represents a technique of writing in gold on parchment. # It represents a form of practiced in Georgia, for example. # It represents the forgiveness of the Gods. # It represents a rain cloud. # It represents a land of golden grain. # It represents the spring-hero. # It represents the sea reflecting the sun. # It represents the gilded prow of Phrixus' ship. # It represents a breed of sheep in ancient Georgia. # It represents the riches imported from the East. # It represents the wealth or technology of Colchis. # It was a covering for a cult image of Zeus in the form of a ram. # It represents a fabric woven from . # It is about a voyage from Greece, through the Mediterranean, across the Atlantic to the Americas. # It represents trading fleece dyed murex-purple for Georgian gold. Notes References Category:Mythology